Herd instinct saves baby from crocodile (+ photos)

This is the shocking moment a crocodile grabbed the trunk of a baby elephant, hoping to get a hefty lunch. Photo / Picture Media

This baby elephant was given a huge shock when a camouflaged crocodile gave a tug on its trunk while it went for a drink.

The extraordinary scene was captured by amateur photographer Johan Opperman while taking pictures of a family of African Bush elephants grazing by a water hole and cooling down.

Under the watchful eye of its family, the young elephant headed to the edge of the waterhole to grab itself a drink.

However, in what has been described by experts as rare behaviour, a crocodile pounced on the youngster, hoping for a kill by locking its jaws around its trunk.

Hearing the baby's distress calls, the herd of elephants, which are known for being protective of their young, immediately came to its rescue, scaring off the croc by trumpeting and stamping around.

After the attack the herd stayed with the youngster.

When the baby had been tended to and the herd decided all was well, they crossed the dam together, just metres from where the crocodile had been hiding.

The scene was reminiscent of the famous Rudyard Kipling tale, The Elephant's Child, which tells the story of how the elephant got a long trunk when it was pulled on by a crocodile.

Mr Opperman, from Pretoria, in South Africa, captured the incredible moment while on a day trip in the country's Kruger National Park.

The 38-year-old said: "The elephants were just grazing in the area, drinking water and cooling down - typical elephant behaviour.

"The crocodile grabbed the baby elephant and made an attempted kill - it was hoping for a nice lunch with elephant on the menu.

"From a couple of experts, I've heard that this is however very rare, and that crocodiles do not normally try to catch elephants.

"When the crocodile got hold of the baby elephant, the whole herd of elephants went crazy, running around and trumpeting, and then proceeded to come to the rescue of the baby elephant.

"After it was saved, all the elephants of the herd stayed around the baby elephant for a while, making sure that it was okay.

"The ones coming to the rescue were most probably female, especially the matriarch female.

"I did not realise exactly what I managed to catch on film until I got to my holiday resort that night and looked through the photos on my computer.

"The screen on digital cameras is not the greatest and made it hard to see the details of what was captured.

"When the 'action' started, I just started clicking away in typical amateur fashion, hoping to get at least something.

"It was quite a surprise to later see on the larger computer monitor that I actually managed to get one photo of the crocodile pulling on the elephant.

"The specific photo reminded me of Kipling's The Elephant's Child, specifically the sentence 'And the crocodile thrashed his tail like an oar, and he pulled, and pulled, and pulled and at each pull the elephant's child's nose hurt him terribly'!"